Marji Stevens

I am primarily a self-taught artist, writer and musician. I'm also a happy grandmother of seven. (I'm sorry, MINE are the cutest in the world.)

I spent thirty years singing and speaking as a traveling missionary, and recorded eleven custom recordings. Singing and songwriting was my creative focus until I developed a condition that made singing difficult. My focus, and desire, began to shift from music to writing and painting.

I've discovered, it's not "what" I create that makes me happy....it's "that" I create. From homemaking to painting, anything to do with creativity is fulfilling to me.

I briefly attended RIT, for art and design, until I got married and the army relocated my husband. After the military, we settled in the rolling hills of Upstate New York, in the Finger Lakes area. Our 200 year old farmhouse has been in the family for five generations. We enjoyed 40 years together until his passing in 2007.

I'm so grateful to God, that even during the grieving process, I never lost the flow of creativity. Making things has sustained me through many, many hours of readjustment to my "new normal."

I worked as an illustrator for Story Friends children's magazine, and have illustrated several children's books. Currently, I am working towards publishing several of my own picture books, as well as a book about a widow's journey of rediscovery, called "A View From the Porch Swing."

My new etsy adventure has just begun, and I'm very excited about all the wonderful creative new friends I'll be able to learn from.